ICSC RECon 2009

The Washington, DC Economic Partnership (WDCEP) is leading the DC delegation to the 2009 RECon convention, the International Council of Shopping Center’s Global Retail Real Estate Convention, taking place May 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mayor Fenty, Deputy Mayor Neil Albert and eight council members will attend ICSC’s RECon to help the WDCEP market the city’s retail opportunities and learn what retailer’s future plans are for existing stores and expansion plans.

The WDCEP has moved its 2,400 sq. ft. booth this year to the Central Hall (C-1721 17th Avenue) to take advantage of a better and busier location. The booth will showcase DC’s major development projects and more than 280 retail sites, representing the city’s 5.8 million square feet of available retail space. These retail sites range from neighborhood locations to large mixed-use developments that will be available over the next three to ten years

The first copies of the 2009 Neighborhood Retail Opportunities book will be available at the booth along with Anacostia Riverfront, NoMa, Capitol Riverfront and Retail Sites videos being shown on a 9 ft x 5 ft video wall. The WDCEP also partnered with DC GIS to bring “Hands on DC” – an interactive touch screen table – to allow visitors to navigate and find retail sites in DC by using their hands and fingers.

The WDCEP plans to meet with more than 50 retailers, developers and brokers throughout the conference to educate them on the opportunities in DC. With the current economic climate many retailers are not looking to expand at the present time so this year’s conference will be focused more on learning how DC can best position itself to take advantage when the economy rebounds.

Attendance is expected to be about 30,000, down from previous years, but still one of the largest conferences in the U.S. The convention is held from May 17 – 20 in Las Vegas.

The Washington, DC Economic Partnership would like to thank the following sponsors and partners whose support has made this initiative possible: Chapman Development, the Capitol Riverfront BID, Douglas Development, Four Points LLC, Roadside Development, PN Hoffman, the Downtown BID, Arent Fox, Reed Smith, Pepco, Chicago Title, Donatelli Development, Banneker Ventures, Fort Lincoln New Town Corporation, the NoMa BID, the Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development, the Neighborhood Investment Fund, the Department of Small & Local Business Development, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer and Interface Multimedia.